Britain is to take an extra 130 unaccompanied child refugees from within Europe under the Dubs scheme after ministers blamed “an administrative error” for not taking up all the offers of places pledged by local councils.

The admission by ministers that they could have taken more children under the scheme is particularly embarrassing as they strongly resisted calls, including from the archbishop of Canterbury, to increase the number in the face of evidence that local authorities had more places than the official limit of 350.

The announcement by the immigration minister, Robert Goodwill, means the number of unaccompanied child refugees in France, Italy and Greece who will be brought to Britain under the Dubs scheme will be increased from 350 to 480 children.

Alf Dubs, who successfully secured the original commitment to take refugee children in Europe, said he was shocked that ministers had now admitted their mistake “after months of dragging their heels all along”. read the full article here